Last week a colleague of Guillermo Gonzalez’s had a decidedly nasty letter published in the Ames Tribune. Rather than address any of the scientific arguments raised by Gonzalez and co-author Jay Richards in their book The Privileged Planet, this letter writer instead pens an ad hominem diatribe full of misinformation and falsehoods.

The Ames Tribune has published Gonzalez’s response. While the letter tries to make out all ID supporters as ultra right-wing zealots — even to the point of comparing ID scientists to the Taliban — Gonzalez points out:

Early in his letter Patterson informs readers that “to those ignorant of the history and logic of modern science, the Intelligent Design (ID) arguments and inferences championed in ‘The Privileged Planet’ will seem scientifically sound, even compelling.” From this unsupported assertion it follows that Harvard astrophysicist and historian of astronomy Owen Gingerich, Cambridge evolutionary paleontologist Simon Conway Morris, and Notre Dame historian of science Michael Crowe are “ignorant of the history and logic of modern science.” They endorsed our book.

The rest of Gonzalez’s letter can be read here.